Just trying out something new

This Maya, often called "the Maya Beast" or "Maya the Wonder Dog."  Most days we call her "Rotten". Especially days like today when she is underfoot all the time and he cold, wet nose is Ito everything.  Oddly enough, cold, wet dog noses can activate the touch screen on my iPad.
Maybe I should just let her post during my "31days in October."

First Week Back-to-School

The first week started strong and ended week.  It was my fault though. I lost steam and needed way more rest than the boys did.
The boys did great though.  Jacob is enjoying his college classes and dreading the SAT.  (Fairly normal for a senior.) The younger three dove into their coursework and forced me to finish the week.
As a bonus, I have two eggs soaking in vinegar at this very moment.  On Monday,  they will be moved to water and corn syrup.
The weekend has been restful.  Too restful.  I'll be paying the price for all that rest during the week.  So it may be time for me to stop resting a get a little work done.

I'm back and so much has changed

After much frustration about blogger and being able to change my format, I switched to a new blog.....which never really happened.

Then a bloggy miracle occurred and I found that my old zoo home was working just fine.
Oddness.

So I'm back to my old home with tales about the boys in the zoo.

So what has happened.

We moved.  Then we moved again.  The boys have gotten bigger.  ZooDad is getting ready to go do his Army thing away from us.
Jacob earned his Eagle scout.  Matthew made it to Life Scout.  Andrew is 1st Class Scout.  Sam is on his way to Arrow of Light.

We are preparing one son to finish his homeschool career and head off to college.  I'm starting my second highschooler and the baby is on his last year in elementary school.

It's a busy time here in the zoo.

In which it all gets rather real

I forgot my blogger password for awhile. After a few weeks (urm.....months) of periodic frustration, it churned up from some recess in my brain. I've jotted that information on a post-it note for future reference.

So the move is happening. Unfortunately, it's happening a lot quicker than I really wanted. ZD and I have been spending quite a bit of time together on base as we visit the housing office, the finance people, and my new buddies at the transportation office. The moving company has contacted us and they will coming over in 2 weeks for a pre-move evaluation. Then they will be back to pack all of our belongings during the last week of March.

That's like....2 months away. Wow! Only 2 months.

Once the house is all packed up, we'll load the stuff we want to move ourselves into a big U-haul, put the other van on a tow bar, and load up the four kids and Mango kitty for the 26 hour drive to Bliss.
That's 1587 miles people. 4 days of driving.
I can't wait to see how we'll pull this one off. The vet has suggested that we sedate the cat. I'm wondering if my doctor would suggest the same thing for me.
It's sounds like fun.

Speaking of fun, tomorrow, I get to go to a Swallowing study.
I'll have various people, including a speech pathologist, watching me drink radioactive liquids of various viscosity's. All while we watch it go down my esophagus on an x-ray in real time. I get to culminate with a barium "cookie." You know, just to cover all the bases.
I'm not sure how I'm going to handle it because I have a gag reflex that could win Olympic gold and I know exactly where my Asperger's kids got their oral over-sensitive issues.
My ENT has great faith in me and it is quite sweet of him.
I, however, doubt I'll even be able to get down one mouthful of the first drink, much less three others and bonus "cookie" at the end.
Although, he did manage to get that little scope down my nose to my throat without me freaking out entirely....so ENT doc might have better odds than I think.

ZD is back at work. He had his foot surgery and 30 days of convalescent leave to learn how to walk again. The surgery was way more than we expected. He's left with a 6 inch scar down his foot and an implant in his foot. I'm sure glad it wasn't my foot. The results have been good. ZD is still stiff but there's no pain and he might be able to run again soon.
I'm glad he's back at work. 30 days home with nothing to do for work and unable to do much around the house.....it's not fun for anyone. He's bust wrapping up loose ends with his job and getting ready for his class for his new job.

In the homeschool area, math has become hectic for all the boys. Today, I'm covering coplanar lines, solving for unknown variables, 2 digit division with remainders, and "borrowing" in subtraction. Great fun for the math teacher. Not much fun for the math students.

If the people really wanted hope change....they should have joined the Army

There is one thing that all Army families can count on.....change. Plans are temporary and flexibility survival skills. It helps if you are also a planner or if you're not a planning person you need to be oblivious.

It also helps to be slightly optimistic. You hope for the best, plan for the worst, and just accept what happens.

It's not a bad life at all, really.

So my last post is out the window. After convincing his new assignment that he could not possibly get to Texas in late March/early April, ZD worked it out to get to his new digs in early May. That means we have to pack up the zoo at the end of April so we can get settled in.

For ZD, it's good news. He'll transition out of his old job when he takes leave for his surgery. (his foot, not a real big deal) Then he'll do special projects for a couple of weeks and check on his replacement. Before out processing, he'll take a four week class to prep him for the new job and then we'll have about 50 days of leave to prep to pack and get moved.

For me and the boys, the transition is not so clean. We have co-op classes and scouts. Plus we have the interruption to our school year.

It's inconvenient but it's not the end of the world.

We can homeschool in Texas. They have scouts there. There are large support groups and new things to do. And we will get to spend more time with ZD since he won't be working the long hours he did here. (We'll see how long that lasts.) We're looking forward to it even though the timing is not the best.

Change and hope.

West Texas Bound

It is official. We are going to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. The when is a bit sketchy. Late May at the earliest and 15 July at the absolute latest.

I'm thrilled to have official paperwork and an actual date. ZD is looking forward to a new job and new challenges. The boys are looking forward to going some place new and seeing new things.
Me....I'm just glad to not be waiting anymore. I've never cared where or when I just have always wanted to know where and when.

There's lots to do and a very slow economy to do them in. The house has to be prepped for sale or rented out. We have 12 years of junk to pare down. And added to the fun is ZooDad's planned surgery which will have him home but not helpful for 30 days.

Oh well, at least I can plan. I guess I'd better start my Spanish lessons.

The power of "No."

To prepare for the big move, I've had to drop most of my responsibilities.
Those who know me in real life know that I am a "do-er." If something needs to be done.... I do it.
Over the years I have racked up a lot of experiences that I can keep on my resume.

I've been cub scout den leader, advancement coordinator, popcorn kernel, treasurer, cub master and Boy Scout Merit badge counselor. I've planned camp outs, Blue and Gold banquets, sold popcorn, decorated parade floats, and sang more songs than I can count.

I've planned fundraisers and carnivals. I've taught co-op classes and private lessons. I've coordinated field trips, social activities, and achievement testing.
I've baked, crafted, and hauled kids around for events.
I even ran a food drive for several years.

Any need, at any time.... If you asked me to do something, my answer was always "Sure."

With the move, I've had to stop. I've had to say no. "No," does not come easy for me.. I know I can't do it all but the guilt I feel is immense. It just goes against my nature to watch and not help. It feels selfish.

But I am learning the power of "no."

I'm learning that other will step up if the usual people aren't available. I'm learning that events will fail if people aren't that interested in participating....and that's ok. I'm learning that taking personal responsibility away from people does not serve them in the long run.
I'm also learning to be selective in choosing to do things that benefit our family.

ZD said that it was time to "shake the blanket" and give me time to relax. He's a wise man that ZooDad. He respects the power of "no."

I promise that we are very responsible...

it's been a sad zoo here this fall. At least for the pets here. In September, Toadie...the little frog that we raised from a tadpole, died all of a sudden during a habitat cleaning.
Cobb was in charge of cleaning and blamed himself and something that he must have done wrongly. I finally convinced him that he was in no way responsible and that 3 year-old frogs do sometimes die.

Then a couple of weeks later, our old dog Stamper passed away in his sleep. This was the dog that ZD and I found on our wedding night. He had parvo and we had to postpone our honeymoon to get medical care for him. He was our first "little boy" and we had in in our lives for 16 years. Matty was the one who found him and was horribly upset. Making matters worse was that Cobb was off at his Order of the Arrow Ordeal camp out and came home to help bury his favorite pet.
It was such a sad day.

Unfortunately, it delayed a decision that ZD and I had made about our other 16-year-old dog, Angel. Little girl was having a really tough time before Stamper died. Afterwards, she was just totally lost. She didn't eat. She paced around the yard all day and most of the night. She was confused most of the time. When she finally stopped drinking unless one of the boys put her nose in her bowl, we decided that the inevitable had come. The older two boys went with ZD to the vet's office to spend a few more minutes with her without pain and pet her as she took her last breath.

We buried her beside her partner for 15 years in the yard where they had spent 12 years of their lives.

Now....as a final blow...we are missing a cat. Chloe got out of the house somehow on Monday night and we haven't seen hide nor hair of her. She is spayed and micro chipped but she didn't have a collar because she wasn't supposed to be outside. She had lived for 18 months as a stray and had been spending a lot of time trying to get outside.
I home she comes home soon. She is the most loving and cuddly cat I have every seen.

Thankfully, we still have Mango cat. Unfortunately, she can't stand us.

All done camping....until January

Whew....our marathon of camping has finally come to an end. I finally can relax and not wonder if we have enough AAA and D batteries.
As much as I love being out in the wilderness, there is a point that it just gets to be too much. We had two camp outs in September, three in October, and two this month.
And the weekends that we weren't camping were consumed with other scout stuff.

Speaking of "other scout stuff," that too is coming to a close. I will be stepping down as cub master for our pack so I can start getting ready for the big move. I'm also doing less stuff with the troop and less volunteering in general. It's all part of cutting ties and tying up loose ends that is part of changing duty stations.

I have five and a half months....give or take a week. And thankfully only about 6 camp outs to do during that time.

2nd day of a new start

It was a tough 1st quarter for the boys in the zoo...and for their teacher too. We just couldn't get it all together and get it all done.

But this quarter we are turning over a new leaf and I'm am prioritizing my life in general. I'm dropping a lot of my extra responsibilities, farming them out to other people. And I'm putting my emphasis on my family first. Somehow they've gotten pushed to the back and that is where they never should be.

After this weekend, I will be just about done with all of my main outside duties and I won't be signing up for any new ones. I have four boys to educate, a family to pamper, a house to prepare to sell, and I have to find a new home 1500 miles away. I think that's more than enough to keep me busy.

And if I do have some urge to do more...I can knit.

camping.....again

Today I am packing for Scout camp. It will be my second trip this month. I'll be camping again next week and then twice more in November.

Thankfully, I enjoy camping and I have all the supplies I need to make the weekend comfortable and enjoyable. I'm also pretty good at lugging all my own supplies and setting up my own tent all by myself.

But if you'd told high school me that I would someday be a mother of 4 boys, homeschooling them, and spending at least one weekend a month out sleeping in a tent at Scout camp.....I would have laughed in your face.

Me???? Camping out in the woods???? Without a curling iron? Crazy.

Friday's journal

Three things I was supposed to do today but didn't:

1. pay bills
2. fold clothes
3. clean out my car

Three things I did get done today that were really important:

1. get Cobb ready for camp
2. hug all of the boys at least twice
3. help my husband with work

Three things that I did even though I didn't want to:

1. cooked meals
2. removed a big dead praying mantis
3. allowed an obnoxious kid to hang out on my porch

Three things I am thankful for today:

1. my patient husband
2. my children who do not sway from the path on which they were raised
3. being able to homeschool
   

It's all scouts, all the time.

Cobb, in the colorguard at summer camp in front of almost 1000 people. Only 16 boys from 2 troops were chosen to have this honor.

I have a Star Scout, a Second Class Scout, a Junior Webelos, and a Wolf Cub. I'm Cub Master of our pack, a leader trainer for both the District and the Council, a merit badge counselor for the troop and an active scout parent.
All this means that we have scouts all the time. Every day I am doing something for scouts.

Let's just look at this week.

Monday was a troop meeting for two of the boys. Tuesday was a committee meeting for our pack. Today, I am meeting with a couple of boys for the Environmental Science Merit badge. Tomorrow, I have to get emails ready to send out about pack events, popcorn sales, and leader training. Friday, I take oldest boy to his Order of the Arrow Ordeal. And Saturday, we have a Webelos Den meeting. And I need to swing by the Scout shop and get a new uniform shirt and more patches to sew on.

And that's just this week. In October we have scouting events every single weekend...including 3 camp outs. And that's on top of den meetings, troop meetings, and merit badge classes.

I love it though.

There is nothing more satisfying than watching little boys become young men.

This month's Scouting Character Trait is Responsibility.

Saturday, I watched a group of 4th graders work together to decide on a patrol badge, name, and yell....all without any intervention from the parents.

And they did it in 10 minutes with no fighting, no hurt feelings, and in the end, everyone was happy. They started their athlete badges and had to record their own results on their own papers that they carried around. They didn't ask for help. I spoke with them about the schedule for the upcoming Arrow Quest and they each planned which classes they wanted to do. They are looking forward to patrol cooking.

All the parents were amazed and impressed with their sons' new found Independence.

That's what Scouting does and why I happy spend my time with it.

Excuse me while I freak out a bit

We're moving. Not the blog but the family. ZD is going to PSC (Permanent Change of Station) to Fort Bliss.
I'm trying to be ok with the whole move-to-the-desert-away-from-all-my-beloved-green-plants thing. Every time I get sort of ok, the man moves the date.

In August, we thought we would move in August, 2011. No problem. That's a year to get ready. Cool.
At the first of September, the date changed to mid July. Hmmm...ok, 10 months. I can get a lot done in 10 months.
A week later, the date moved to mid June. Whoa....mid June is only 9 months. While that's plenty time to grow a baby....it's getting short on time to move a household of 6 and 12 years worth of stuff, 22 hours away from our whole family. Plus that interferes with Scout Summer camp and bridging and co-op and pretty much everything else that we do.

Last night, ZD did it too me again. he spoke with his commanders and worked the actual dates.
May 15 is when he will report.

MAY!!!

I don't even know how to respond to May.

If he comes home today and says "April," my head will explode.

There is a girl.

A new girl has moved into the neighborhood. She lives a couple of houses down, is 13, and is cute and giggly. She also has a little brother who is Matty's age.

She has discovered my 14-year-old son. And more importantly my son has also discovered her. She has been hanging around the house a lot, joining in on the neighborhood play...which is fine. But unlike all the other kids, who ring the doorbell and ask, "Can the BOYS play?" She rings the doorbell and asks, "Can Cobb play?" There are several other teen boys on the street, but mine is the one that she finds most interesting.

Last night, oldest boy asked if he could go down to new girl and boy's house to play on their porch. I'm so used to just letting the kids hang out that I said yes.
Then I realized that my son and a 13-year-old girl were sitting on a porch in the dark.

If you have sons or once were a 13-year-old girl, I know you're feeling the exact same way as I am.

sigh
I am so not ready for this next phase of parenting.

So What's been going on in the Zoo?

It's been 7 months since I've posted. I didn't mean for that to happen but I was overworked and then started dealing with some depression. I didn't realize how bad the depression was until I plotted out exactly how I could end my life and cause as little hardship to my family as possible.

That scared me into talking to my husband and seeking some help. Now, after 2 months of medication and counseling, I'm feeling much more like my normal self. I've learned the value of saying "no" and I've finally accepted that I cannot do it all, nor should I even try.

I know I've disappointed some people in-real-life with my new found selfishness but I'm beyond the point of trying to please everyone to the extent of damaging myself. As ZD put it, my family needs me around way more than any outside person needs me to do some disposable activity.
So the new Sheila is not doing nearly as much as the old Sheila used to and is feeling a whole lot less guilty about what she's not doing.

But I'm ready to get back to sharing the activities of our daily life.
The reader's digest version: I have a new Boy Scout. I went to Boy Scout camp. I spent a week at Cub Scout Day Camp. I camped. I camped. I did scout stuff. We finished the school year and found out that one of the boys has dyslexia. (Which explains the reading problems.) My favorite Uncle passed away due to cancer. We swam a lot. The boys went tubing. I read, I knitted, and I played around with my Cricut. We found out that one of the boys has asthma and that has placed his football career on hold. Another boy finished 6 years of speech therapy.
I made a huge change to our school year by adding Calvert school. (I really enjoy it.) And I started homeschooling a high schooler. (OMG!!! High School!)
Oh....and we just found out where we will be moving next summer. We'll be in sunny El Paso. That's sure going to be a change of pace.

And there was much more but it's all a blur.

Hi Y'all!

I'm back!!!
I accidently took a bit of time off but I am back in action with lots and lots to talk about. Let me get the cobwebs all cleaned out and then I'll be ready to tell you all about the stuff I've been up to.

In Which Sheila is Totally Misunderstood

Anders just entered the room with a 2 liter Dr. Pepper bottle and we had the following conversation.
"Mom, I need you to save me four of these bottles."

"What for?"

"Four, your know, more than three and less than five."

"No, What for?"

"Any four, Coke, Ginger Ale, Dr. Pepper....it doesn't matter."

"I mean, for what use do you want the bottles."

"Ooooooohhhh, I'm making a mannequin. And I need a milk jug. Not the chocolate milk size but the regular milk size."

Communication is tough around here.

Mommy guilt

I recently scored a hank of self-striping Vesper sock yarn. I have been coveting this yarn for a very, very long time but I can never seem to get it. But on this one day I managed to be home when the site updated, remember my pay-pal account info, and find a colorway that I really loved.

I was so happy when the yarn arrived that I left it out as decoration. That's how much I adored it. I planed to knit up some cute striped socks as soon as I finished my February Lady sweater.

That happened last night.
As soon as I wove in the very last end on my sweater, I started winding the hank of my sweet Vesper yarn. I had some trouble with the swift and got a huge tangle. In all it took almost an hour to get the ball wound. But that didn't damper my excitement about my soon to be knit socks. Even discovering that this was hand wash and dry yarn couldn't diminish my love for it.

After another half hour of wrangling, I managed to get the ball split into two even balls and matched up the stripes. Right as I finished up, Anders walked in.

Now this child rarely notices my knitting or yarn in particular. He never comments on what I'm working on. And although he is quite appreciative of what I make for him, he has never come out and asked me to knit anything for him.
Until last night.

Last night, he walked in and went straight to the red, blue, and lime yarn I had just wound, picked up a ball, and asked, "Whose yarn is this? I like this yarn?"
Selfish mother that I am, answered that it was my yarn and then proceeded to cast on 72 stitches for my striped stockinette socks. My dear son who is the most selfless creature I have ever known, didn't seem to be disappointed at all.

However, after 6 rows my mommy guilt kicked in and I ripped out all the rows. I immediately cast on 60 stitches for a smaller foot and knit until bedtime.

He's thrilled at the progress.

Sunday nights as an Army Wife

Every Sunday I wash ZD's ACU's. If you've spent any time around Army soldiers, then you know what I'm talking about.
ACU stands for Army Combat Uniform and they are the newish digital camo uniforms that soldiers wear. They are very different from the old BDU's (Battle dress uniform) that he wore last time he was in the Army.
These are particular and they have Velcro. A lot of Velcro.

Every Sunday, I round up his uniforms and pull all the Velcro patches off them. Then I zip the jackets closed and press down all the Velcro on all the pockets. There are a lot of pockets but there's more Velcro than pockets.
When I finish those tasks, I turn the jackets and pants inside out and wash them on the permanent press setting. Then they dry.
When that's done, it's time to "snap" them to get the wrinkles out and do a little ironing to touch up some of the more stubborn areas.

Then I have to put all the patches back into the right places. ZD teases me because I mumble to myself as I stick everything back where they are supposed to be.
On the left arm, the patch for his current unit... the one he hasn't "left."
On the right arm goes the flag so it's facing forward. Under it goes a combat patch so he's not "light on the right."
Rank on the square in the middle right were it can be seen.
US Army goes over his heart because that's where it belongs. Above that go the Airborne wings.
And then his name is last on the right. Then I hang the completed sets to be worn.

I repeat this several ties until all the uniforms are ready. Unit he hasn't left, flag goes forward, not light on the right, rank in the middle, Army and wings on his heart, last name.
I really don't look forward to all the work involved each week, but I like to think that there are lot of other military wives that are repeating this same ritual all around the world.
And it makes me proud to be part of that.